''Do Right Woman'' is the debut solo album by Barbara Dickson. Barbara Dickson's first two solo albums were on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. They won critical praise but sold poorly. They show the repertoire that she had at that time as a singer in folk clubs. In 1973 her career took a different course when accepted an offer to sing on the London West End stage where she sang torch songs and

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

s. ''Do Right Woman'' was obviously recorded on a low budget. The first track, "Easy to be Hard" is from the musical ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'', almost a premonition of her future career on stage. In 1969 Barbara had been a backing singer on a recording by Rab Noakes. On ''Do Right Woman'' she returns the favour by singing one of his songs, "Turn a Deaf Ear". The first traditional song on the album is "The Garton Mother's Lullaby", which was re-recorded in 2005 on ''Full Circle''. On "Returning" she sings the last verse in French. The album is named after her cover of " Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", originally recorded by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

. The album was re-released in 2006 on CD with her next album, '' From the Beggar's Mantle...Fringed with Gold''.

Track listing

Side One #" Easy to Be Hard" (from ''

'') ( Gerome Ragni, James Rado,

Galt MacDermot Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most successful musicals were ''Hair ...

) – 2:52 #"Turn A Deaf Ear" ( Rab Noakes) – 4:18 #"Something's Wrong" (Allan Taylor) – 2:52 #"The Garton Mother's Lullaby" (Traditional) – 2:23 #"Dainty Davie" (Traditional) – 2:00 #"Returning" ( Archie Fisher) – 3:33 Side Two #" Do Right Woman" ( Chips Moman, Dan Penn) – 2:52 #"The Long and Lonely Winter" (Dave Goulder) – 2:38 #"A Lover's Ghost" (Traditional) – 3:21 #" The Blacksmith" (Traditional) – 1:46 #" Gloomy Sunday" (

Rezső Seress Rezső Seress (Hungarian: ''Seress Rezső,'' ; 3 November 1889 – 12 January 1968) was a Hungarian pianist and composer. Some sources give his birth name as Rudolf ("Rudi") Spitzer. Biography Rezső Seress lived most of his life in poverty ...

, László Jávor, Sam M. Lewis, Carter) – 2:05 #"And I Will Sing" (Archie Fisher) – 4:07

Personnel

*Barbara Dickson - vocals * Archie Fisher - backing vocals, guitars, dulcimer, concertina * Rab Noakes - backing vocals, guitar *Ronnie Rae - bass *Bill Kemp - drums *String sextet arranged and conducted by Alex Sutherland *Produced by Ray Horricks

References

{{Authority control Barbara Dickson albums 1970 debut albums Decca Records albums